One in ten Chicago homes is currently underwater, more than double the national average.
Chicago has more homes underwater than any other city in the country, more than New York (the city with the second most homes underwater) and Los Angeles combined. "At the end of 2017, more than 135,000 Chicago-area home borrowers owed more on the mortgage than the property was worth, according to a report released by property data firm CoreLogic," writes Dennis Rodkin.
This is keeping some home owners in their current homes, because even those not at risk of foreclosure can't afford to put their homes on their market and lose the difference between what they owe on the house for and what it's currently worth. Because of this, both supply and demand fall.
"At year-end, 10 percent of Chicago-area homeowners with a mortgage were underwater. That's twice the nationwide rate of 4.9 percent," Rodkin reports. Miami is the only other large city in the country with a higher rate of underwater home ownership.
Read the full story: Chicago leads U.S. in underwater homes
Report: Transit Oriented Development Leads the Market in Major Metros
A report released last week by Cushman & Wakefield has won a lot of attention from media outlets covering large-scale development market trends. Among the report's findings: growing cities need to better support transit-oriented development.
A Theory of Gentrification—And Where It Goes Wrong
Does gentrification always follow massive disinvestment?
Understanding Cities Through Their Life Cycles
Cities go through ups and downs over time, and where a city is in its longer history can reveal the reasons behind population changes.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
St. Louis Metro to test if single-car trains can reduce operating costs, maintain rider satisfaction
The pilot program will run from October to spring 2027, and begin with one single-car train operating on Metrolink’s Red and Blue lines.
Pennsylvania is building data centers in abandoned mines
Housing data centers in mines provides an alternative to destroying local forests and may spare residents from data centers’ noise and air pollution.
If Corpus Christi can’t revive desalination plant project, it may owe Texas $235 million
Earlier this month, city officials declined to pursue developing the plant for the second time in a year.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello